Wednesday September 11, 2024 | VANCOUVER, BC
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
Suddenly the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) is without someone to be president for the next year.
Today UBCM announced that Director Art Kaehn provided notification to UBCM that he has withdrawn his nomination for UBCM President due to health reasons. Kein is the first vice-chair of the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George.
A new president is nominated for each year, running from that year’s convention in September, to September of the following year.
Timing ahead of next week’s convention:
This comes just days ahead of the next UBCM annual convention which will be held September 16 to 20 in Vancouver (at the Vancouver Convention Centre East, Fairmont Waterfront Hotel, and Pan Pacific Hotel).
The call for nominations off the floor for the position of President and the other Table Officer positions will take place on Wednesday September 18 at 10:25 am.
Wishing Kaehn a speedy recovery:
“This has been a challenging time for Director Kaehn, and he has made a tough decision with the best interests of UBCM’s membership in mind,” said Councillor Laurey-Anne Roodenburg, the Nominating Committee Chair and a past president of UBCM.
“On behalf of the membership, we wish him all the best and a speedy recovery,” she said.
Nominations open:
UBCM is giving notice to their members that at present, there is no nominee for the position of President. Their Nominating Committee has put in place additional steps to manage the process for nominations off the floor at Convention.
The Nominating Committee wishes to encourage interested local elected officials to put their name forward for the position of UBCM President. The call for nominations off the floor for the position of President and the other Table Officer positions will take place on Wednesday September 18 at 10:25 am.
Recognizing that there may now be interest amongst current nominees to seek nomination for a different position, the Nominating Committee advises that a current nominee must first withdraw the existing nomination, before seeking a nomination off the floor for a different position.
The Committee encourages current nominees seeking a different nomination to provide written notice to UBCM to withdraw their existing nomination as soon as possible. Details of the process for withdrawing an existing nomination will be shared in a separate email to all current nominees.
Process for nominations:
Questions about withdrawal of nominations and the revised process for nominations off the floor may be directed to two UBCM representatives.
This year’s convention theme:
This year’s convention theme is ‘Ride the Wave‘.
The theme has to do with exploring “innovative approaches to persistent issues, from housing affordability and attainability to climate and emergency preparedness” and the convention being “an opportunity to lean into the challenges before us and foster collective growth and progress”.
A prominent discussion paper at UBCM 2024 is called ‘Potential for Change – Responsible Conduct Framework for Local Government Elected Officials‘ (click for discussion paper PDF).
Keynote speeches:
Each year in addition to topical keynote speeches, the UBCM convention also includes a political opportunity for speeches from the Premier of the province and the leaders of the main opposition parties.
Visit the BC ELECTIONS 2024 section of Island Social Trends for coverage of speeches by Premier David Eby (on Thursday September 19), Conservatives of BC Leader John Rustad (on Friday September 20), and BC Green Leader Sonia Furstenau (on Friday September 20).
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NEWS SECTIONS: POLITICS | BC ELECTION 2024